HOMILY FOR THE 7TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A. (3)

HOMILY FOR THE 7TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.

THEME: SWEETEST “REVENGE”

BY: Fr Andrew Ekpenyong

1. Funny. Considering our Lord’s teaching that we should love our neighbors and love our enemies, I recall G. K. Chesterton’s witty remark: “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people”. Our Lord in today’s Gospel reading (Gospel Mt 5:38-48) not only teaches us to love our enemies and pray for them, but also to offer no resistance to one who is evil: “When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well.” This puts us in a very difficult position. Well, someone claimed to have a funny way out. The Rev. Cleveland Duke of Akron was a part-time judo instructor and used to say: “I teach you what to do after you’ve turned both cheeks.” He used to teach self-defense.

2. Forgiveness. Just as no society can exist without laws, no society can maintain order without law enforcement and some legal system. Fortunately, despite imperfections, law enforcement and the legal system reduce our need for extraordinary self-defense. But our Lord’s teaching today is about something much more important for our salvation than self-defense. It is about overcoming the urge to revenge. When we are wronged, the default tendency is to want to pay back in the same coin; to treat our aggressor the way they have treated us. Law enforcement and the legal system come up and say, “eh eh, don’t take the laws into your hands. We’ll handle that for you.” Well, we all know that the big payouts, the long jail terms, the life imprisonments, and even capital punishment for our aggressors, do not completely remove the hurt we feel, the anger, the loss. Hence, not long ago, the relatives of the 9 people killed by a gunman during their Bible Study inside a Church in Charleston, South Carolina, spoke these powerful words to Dylan Roof, the killer: “we forgive you, may God have mercy on you”. They got more than any justice system could give them. Nadine Collier, who lost her mother Ethel Lance, said: “I forgive you….” Other relatives followed suite. Chris Singleton did the same. Those Christian men and women who forgave the killer on his first appearance in court, before any hearings and sentencing, were carrying out the words of our Lord in today’s Gospel reading: “love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you”. They were also carrying out the teaching we heard in today’s 1st reading (Lev 19:1-2, 17-18): “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart.” I don’t think I would have done what they did so soon. Let’s pray for such grace to love our enemies by forgiving and praying for them as Christ did on the Cross. Considering the peace that those who forgive their enemies enjoy, forgiving becomes the sweetest “revenge”. Loving one’s enemy becomes the best response to enmity. Yes, the enemy is defeated by love.

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3. Divine. Even in the Old Testament, the love of our enemies was envisaged and intended in the commandments. For instance, Exodus 23:4-5 “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.” Hence, in the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord was correcting popular but erroneous interpretations of the Law. Our Lord was saying, “You have been told [by the Scribes and Pharisees] that this is what God told your ancestors… “But I now tell you what God actually told your ancestors….” “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” Each time we forgive, we become like God. Indeed, to borrow from Alexander Pope, to err is human, to forgive divine. Yes, to harbor grudges is human; to hate our enemies is human; to revenge is human, but to forgive is divine. And it has pleased God to give us the grace to be like Him: merciful, kind and forgiving. I don’t know any other virtue that makes us more like God, more like Christ, as forgiveness of enemies, as love of enemies. Even self-defense takes a different form when we love our enemies, for then, we are trying to prevent them from becoming murderers, we prevent them from sinking further into depravity, thereby increasing the chances for their repentance and salvation, which is God’s will for all.

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